Chapter 243 - 189: Gift and Thank-you Gift (Part 4)

"Later, I’ll put a freezer in the activity room and keep it stocked with all sorts of ice cream and popsicles. Once you finish your homework each day, you can get one from your grandma. How does that sound?"

"Yay!"

The older kids all cheered, but the three-year-old immediately burst into tears. "WAHHH, I don’t have any homework!"

"You get some too, but since you don’t have homework, you can only have a little bit each day. Exactly how much is up to your grandma to decide!"

With that, everyone was happy.

Once the children had left, the more experienced women started sharing their wisdom with her.

"This mother-in-law, daughter-in-law dynamic is the trickiest. Listen, the best kind of mother-in-law is one who doesn’t get involved in anything. They’re dating, so just let them date on their own. Don’t you go meddling!"

"Right, right, right! You have to pretend you don’t know anything unless they tell you themselves!"

"Basically, as long as they’re serious about it, you shouldn’t worry so much."

...

Shui Sulan got an earful of mother-in-law advice and was still mulling it over when she got home.

But as soon as she walked in the door, she heard her son in the living room on a video call with all his best friends.

"Listen up, guys. Fishing and a picnic at Baiyun Reservoir tomorrow! If you have a wife, bring your wife. If you have kids, bring your kids. If you have neither, don’t even bother coming. Go on a business trip or something! Tomorrow’s gathering isn’t for you! And don’t just find a random plus-one to make up the numbers, alright? Bring a real, honest-to-goodness partner! It’s a family gathering, you get me? No outsiders!"

Shui Sulan, who had overheard everything from the doorway, quietly backed away, deciding to go find the old man practicing his calligraphy over at the Shui Pavilion.

Her son was clearly so good at arranging things himself; she didn’t need to worry about him at all.

’Ah well, I’ll just let things run their course~~’

Beaming, Shui Sulan found her husband. She saw him sitting in his rocking chair, gazing through the floor-to-ceiling window at the half-withered lotuses in the pond.

"What’s gotten into our son today? He rushed out first thing in the morning, then rushed right back. I called out to him, but he ignored me, ran upstairs to grab something, and then ran out again. A little while later, he came running back. He’s spent the whole morning just dashing in and out, like he’s possessed."

Shui Sulan explained, "Our son and Xiao Ni are official! You know how he ordered a pair of rings from Old Chen last year? He most likely came back to get them."

Doesn’t a mother know her son best?

She hadn’t seen a thing, just pieced together what she’d overheard, and yet she’d guessed everything with perfect accuracy!

"This is truly wonderful!"

Sang Jingwen didn’t look particularly excited, but his rocking chair began to sway a little faster.

"Yes, it really is! Watching them fall in love has been more work than when we did it ourselves! Honestly!"

Sang Jingwen gave her a sideways glance. "The only reason you think it wasn’t any work back then is because I was the one doing all the hard work chasing you, okay?"

A smile immediately spread across Shui Sulan’s face. "I always tell everyone that I was the one who chased you! All you knew how to do back then was study. You were completely clueless!"

As the old couple talked, they found themselves snuggled together on the sofa, reminiscing about the old days.

Just as they were savoring the peaceful moment, their troublemaker of a son popped in, holding several different outfits.

"Dad, which of these do you think is better for my date tomorrow?"

The clothes weren’t the point. The *date* was!

"Get out, get out, get out! Why don’t you just go naked!"

Shui Sulan was speechless. She shoved him out and locked the door.

"Don’t I get any respect? How could you even say that! Who goes on a date naked?!"

Hearing his son still gloating outside, Sang Jingwen shouted laughingly through the door, "Get out, get out, get out! Your old man has a wife, do you? You’re not even official yet! And you dare to show off in front of me!"

"Hahaha~"

Sang Yuan told his buddies that he was no longer single, showed off to his parents, and then called his sister.

After hanging up, he remembered he still hadn’t told his grandparents on both sides, or his several aunts, so he busily started calling them one after another.

When he had finished all the calls, he still felt it wasn’t enough. He opened his company’s work group chat and started rapidly sending out a flood of red packets.

"Boss, what’s the happy occasion?"

His number one lackey, Xiao Zhao, was the first to speak up, followed by a string of similar questions.

"Well, with the Qixi Festival coming up, I was thinking of holding a company event. The theme will be ’Share the Love, Spread the Love.’ The rule is that everyone shares a sweet moment from their own relationship or marriage to pass on dating tips to our colleagues who are still single and help them find someone quickly. What do you all think?"

Naturally, everyone said it was a great idea.

Sang Yuan nodded to himself. ’Getting a whole bunch of dating tips for free... I really am just an ordinary, run-of-the-mill genius!’

The thought of his first official date tomorrow made him too excited to sleep!

’Why is the time passing so slowly?’